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Ship’s Log & other OW Navigational Tools


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I love that there is no icon on the map to show your position and I love the gameplay spirit that this creates: one of having to navigate for yourself just like the captains of the day.I think though, that the current system of OW navigation is too simplistic and could be improved without making something so complex as to be a turn-off.

 

I propose that a ships’s log mechanic be introduced into the game, along with the ability to mark the in-game map.

I would also love to see leeway added to ships but I suspect that this idea has already been rejected by the devs or we would have it in game.

 

SO: how would the ship’s log work?

At appropriate intervals your log would record your average course and distance travelled for that period. This would build up into a table of records with which you could plot your course and (if done well) derive your near exact position on the map. (Let’s not forget that, far from being lost in the open ocean a good Captain of this age had the tools to accurately fix their position on the globe within a very few metres).

 

Plotting your position

Give players the ability to freely add simple symbols to the map: I suggest an ‘x’ and a line. I would love to see this skinned as a pair of dividers and a pencil :D

Taking distance and bearing information from their log, players would mark their point of departure and then plot the information from the log on to their map resulting in a series of marks giving them a good idea of their current position even when out of sight of land.

For example: I've marked an x on my map at my last know location e.g. Kingston. As I move my cursor away from this x the UI tells me the length and bearing of the line that I am drawing. I match this to my ship's log, placing another x and repeating the process for each log entry to build up my course.

Not sure if you've sailed past that mission in the fog? Are you just being impatient or might you need to turn around? Now you know: reassure yourself by plotting your course on the map!

Advanced players could even fix their point of departure EXACTLY by taking bearings from headlands in the OW view and plotting intersecting lines on the map!

 

Other minor tweaks needed

The ability to take a bearing when sailing in OW would be nice. This might either mean a change to the compass UI to give you a bearing as you pan the camera, or an additional tool like a hand-bearing compass view (similar to the spyglass view from battles) which would allow you to take your bearings.

 

I hope you’ll agree with me that this would be a great addition to OW navigation and add meaningfully to the gameplay.

 
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I love that there is no icon on the map to show your position and I love the gameplay spirit that this creates: one of having to navigate for yourself just like the captains of the day.I think though, that the current system of OW navigation is too simplistic and could be improved without making something so complex as to be a turn-off.

 

I propose that a ships’s log mechanic be introduced into the game, along with the ability to mark the in-game map.

I would also love to see leeway added to ships but I suspect that this idea has already been rejected by the devs or we would have it in game.

 

SO: how would the ship’s log work?

At appropriate intervals your log would record your average course and distance travelled for that period. This would build up into a table of records with which you could plot your course and (if done well) derive your near exact position on the map. (Let’s not forget that, far from being lost in the open ocean a good Captain of this age had the tools to accurately fix their position on the globe within a very few metres).

 

Plotting your position

Give players the ability to freely add simple symbols to the map: I suggest an ‘x’ and a line. I would love to see this skinned as a pair of dividers and a pencil :D

Taking distance and bearing information from their log, players would mark their point of departure and then plot the information from the log on to their map resulting in a series of marks giving them a good idea of their current position even when out of sight of land.

For example: I've marked an x on my map at my last know location e.g. Kingston. As I move my cursor away from this x the UI tells me the length and bearing of the line that I am drawing. I match this to my ship's log, placing another x and repeating the process for each log entry to build up my course.

Not sure if you've sailed past that mission in the fog? Are you just being impatient or might you need to turn around? Now you know: reassure yourself by plotting your course on the map!

Advanced players could even fix their point of departure EXACTLY by taking bearings from headlands in the OW view and plotting intersecting lines on the map!

 

Other minor tweaks needed

The ability to take a bearing when sailing in OW would be nice. This might either mean a change to the compass UI to give you a bearing as you pan the camera, or an additional tool like a hand-bearing compass view (similar to the spyglass view from battles) which would allow you to take your bearings.

 

I hope you’ll agree with me that this would be a great addition to OW navigation and add meaningfully to the gameplay.

i agree with you on this point however an auto log feature i don't think should be in the game, it would be better if there was a map scale so you could use a tool to measure out the distance of one nautical mile in game and then do some basic distance calculations or something similar.

 

and yes they had the tools to give them a rough fix on their position but it was not accurate to a few meters, using a sextant the position could wary between users by several nautical miles (Even by experienced users) that is why they used dead reckoning meaning they used speed and course and time to calculate their estimated position and plotting this into a chart, not to mention tide and current charts but that is a whole different ball game.

 

but yes i agree with you that OW navigation would be a great addition, i would personaly want a proper bearing compass in the OW map (M) so you could take out a simple heading.

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i agree with you on this point however an auto log feature i don't think should be in the game, it would be better if there was a map scale so you could use a tool to measure out the distance of one nautical mile in game and then do some basic distance calculations or something similar.

 

and yes they had the tools to give them a rough fix on their position but it was not accurate to a few meters, using a sextant the position could wary between users by several nautical miles (Even by experienced users) that is why they used dead reckoning meaning they used speed and course and time to calculate their estimated position and plotting this into a chart, not to mention tide and current charts but that is a whole different ball game.

 

but yes i agree with you that OW navigation would be a great addition, i would personaly want a proper bearing compass in the OW map (M) so you could take out a simple heading.

Thanks for your reply. I'm interested to know why you think an auto-log feature would be a bad idea? It seems to me that your ship's crew and especially your Master would be keeping this log all the time anyway if the game is going for realism.

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I agree, I think that there should be a navigation system.  In addition to a proper compass, with 32 points, not degrees since that isn't period correct, I would also like to see a celestial navigation mechanic added.  

 

The way I'm think it should be simple enough.  You would have to add latitude and longitude to the map.  At noon, you would get a latitude reading, nothing to precise, a whole degree should be fine since that represents 60 miles.  If players purchase a chronometer, then they get a circle saying you are with in x miles of this point.  but you only get this information once a day at noon.

 

After you have this information, you can use dead reckoning to figure your way to your destination.

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I agree, I think that there should be a navigation system.  In addition to a proper compass, with 32 points, not degrees since that isn't period correct, I would also like to see a celestial navigation mechanic added.  

 

The way I'm think it should be simple enough.  You would have to add latitude and longitude to the map.  At noon, you would get a latitude reading, nothing to precise, a whole degree should be fine since that represents 60 miles.  If players purchase a chronometer, then they get a circle saying you are with in x miles of this point.  but you only get this information once a day at noon.

 

After you have this information, you can use dead reckoning to figure your way to your destination.

YES 32 points should definitely be how the compass is displayed! I don't know where they got the current 24 points from??? Has that EVER been a thing??

I like your ideas of a noon observation and then I'm surmising some kind of celestial equivalent at night? I thought it would be nice to have a Master upgrade, which add's an experienced Master to your ship's crew and improves in some way the accuracy of your nav. That upgrade would work much better with your suggestion than mine

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Love these ideas. Creates a more realistic sailing simulation. I would suggest using a navigation system similar to Silent Hunter 4 and 5 but much more simplistic. These are WWII sub sims that use plotting tools to lay out a course on the local map to plot intercepts and torpedo launches. The protractor is in degrees, but you could substitute the 32 compass points instead. But simple tools like this would really simulate sailing navigation. This is a video demonstrating Silent Hunter 4 navigation tools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_XOYLy0nSE

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Love these ideas. Creates a more realistic sailing simulation. I would suggest using a navigation system similar to Silent Hunter 4 and 5 but much more simplistic. These are WWII sub sims that use plotting tools to lay out a course on the local map to plot intercepts and torpedo launches. The protractor is in degrees, but you could substitute the 32 compass points instead. But simple tools like this would really simulate sailing navigation. This is a video demonstrating Silent Hunter 4 navigation tools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_XOYLy0nSE

Thanks for the video link, that was really interesting: I'd never seen the nav interface on silent hunter before! A combination of the marker and parallel rule tools is almost exactly what i had envisaged! :D I really hope something like this appears in-game. Do you agree that the OW sailing is a bit bare at the moment?

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Thanks for the video link, that was really interesting: I'd never seen the nav interface on silent hunter before! A combination of the marker and parallel rule tools is almost exactly what i had envisaged! :D I really hope something like this appears in-game. Do you agree that the OW sailing is a bit bare at the moment?

Yes, I do. Would love to see a few tools that would simulate period navigation techniques and make us navigators of the dead-reckoning sort and at least give us a chance of not getting completely lost. Teleporting should be a method of last resort and not standard practice.

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Yes, I do. Would love to see a few tools that would simulate period navigation techniques and make us navigators of the dead-reckoning sort and at least give us a chance of not getting completely lost. Teleporting should be a method of last resort and not standard practice.

Yeah agreed. I'm sure this or something like it has to be coming. I can't believe the developers are content with OW sailing as it stands

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